


Touchdown!

by Sonyaalone



Category: Newsies!: the Musical - Fierstein/Menken
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Football, High School AU, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-14
Updated: 2018-01-14
Packaged: 2019-01-17 03:53:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,856
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12356883
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sonyaalone/pseuds/Sonyaalone
Summary: Spot Conlon is the football team's last chance. He just has to score. Race is just in the stands watching, but one look can change everything.





	1. Touchdown!

Race stood in the stands shivering slightly from the early October cold. He didn't know why he was here at a football game, an away game, the other school's homecoming game. 

That's what Spot did to him. That stupid viola playing, asl using, football playing ass changed Race. Instead of being at Crutchie’s laughing it up with his friends Race was here at the football stadium watching his new friend pace on the sidelines.

Race narrowed his eyes as the other teams band picked up volume, followed by a chorus of cheers and some chaotic stomping that was meant to be in time to the music.

Finally they started the game, both teams entering to thunderous cheers. As the national anthem was carried out Race scanned the line of football players in their white uniforms. 

52.. where is 52…

Race knew Spot was 52, he'd worn his jersey to class on every game day and only now had Race realized that he could find Spot on the field only if he knew his number. So when orchestra rolled around Race made note of the large 52 on the front and back of Spots jersey.

There.

Race picked him out of the crowd. Thanks to his atypical height of 5’4” Spot was easy to find, most of the other players towered over him. 

Race kept his eye on Spot as the game started, he was just pacing along the sidelines, waiting to go in. Finally the whistle was blown and Spot, along with 53 and 17 went jogging out to their positions. 

Race watched closely as the teams collided, struggling against each other. They all wound up in a heap with the ball underneath them.

He didn't really get football. All Race knew was that it was mostly talk, the whole game was so drawn out that you stood there waiting for most of it. He didn't get the terminology or anything, just that he wanted their team to get the ball and make it all the way to the end. 

So far that wasn't happening. To their team at least. The other team was crushing them. By the third quarter they were ahead by 12 points, making a recovery seem almost impossible. Race could feel the tension in the stands around him, thick like the fog that coated the trees in the morning. 

Regardless they all cheered whenever something went right. The cheer squad tried their best to liven things up, chanting and tossing and shaking their pompoms. 

Race didn't think Spot knew he was there. He'd never told him he was coming, hadn't even decided to go until Katherine posted on her Snapchat about having to go to the game. Race naturally offered to go with her, not out of generosity but because he wanted to see Spot on the field. So at 6:15 her expensive baby blue car pulled up in front of Race’s house.

It was really looking bad. The whole team seemed discouraged and Spot was shaking his head. He'd taken off his helmet and was scanning the stands with an indescribable look on his face. 

Suddenly his eyes found Race’s and his whole face lit up. Race smiled at him sadly, as if apologizing for the loss that they were sure to suffer. Spot turned his head back to the game, then finding he was in, put his helmet back on and trotted out to the field. 

He took his place on the side, casting a glance back in Race’s direction. Everyone on the field crouched down, then flew into action. Race's eyes trailed after Spot as he tore off down the field, turning around after making it sufficiently far.

At that moment number 23 threw the ball. It went soaring through the air, over the heads of the other team, right into Spots arms. 

He took off running, zig-zagging to dodge the defense, he was just about there when a member on the other team who was on his heels dove. Race's breath hitched sat hands flew towards Spot’s ankles, but Spot was quick enough, picking up his feet to dodge it. 

He ran right into the end zone and the crowd erupted into cheers. That seemed to get their momentum going, after that they scored again, plus two bonus points from making it through the goalposts. 

Their team won 38-24. The team tore off around the stadium cheering and stomping their feet as the crowd celebrated. Race followed Katherine down onto the field where she began interviewing players for the school paper. 

Race was just about to leave when someone tackled him from behind. 

“We won!” A voice cheered. Race broke into a grin as he realized it was Spot who had his arms tangled around his slim form. 

“You were fantastic out there!” Race congratulated, turning around to face Spot.

He had black smears on his cheeks and looked exhausted. His face glimmered with sweat and his hair stuck out at odd angles, but he couldn't look happier. 

“Ooh, smile boys!” Katherine gushed as she snapped a picture of the two side by side making Viking horns with their hands for their school mascot.

“Spot you were terrific tonight.” She said fumbling with a recording device. 

“Can you tell me what motivated you to make that big play?” 

“Well, first off you sound like you're writing questions for an exam not interviewing someone,” Spot playfully raised an eyebrow. “And second off, I just remember looking up into the stands feeling defeated, and then I saw Race. I didn't expect him to come so seeing him there gave me an extra little burst of confidence, I guess.”

“Thank you, you were amazing.” Katherine smiled professionally and moved on to another player.

“So you can say I won the game?” Race joked.

“Yeah, all you!” Spot smiled. He was so proud of their win. He threw his arm around Race’s shoulder.  
“You wanna celebrate with some fries at Chick-Fil-A?” Spot offered.

“Yeah, why not. You'll have to drive me home though, Kath’s my ride.” The blonde shrugged.

“No problem.”


	2. Sore Loser

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Race goes to another football game, but things are different this time.

The game started off well. Race showed up at 6:30 wearing Spot’s spare jersey. He stood by the fence while the team warmed up, grinning as Spot ran past him. 

It had stopped raining that afternoon, but it was still overcast with a chance of rain. Rumbling grey clouds loomed overhead, threatening to unleash upon them. The stands began to fill up and Katherine tugged at Race’s sleeve.

“I'm gonna go find Sarah, I'll just be up there, alright?” 

“Yeah, sure.” Race replied.

Katherine trotted away up the stairs to find her girlfriend. Race waited by the gate, cheering when Spot caught the ball. Finally a whistle was blown and the football team in their navy blue jerseys jogged towards the locker room. 

Spot raced over to his boyfriend, grinning to see him wearing his other jersey. 

“Hey babe!” He breathed, grabbing the sleeves of Race’s sweatshirt that he wore under the jersey. 

“You're gonna knock ‘em dead!” Race smiled.

“Hope so, wish me luck.” Spot pecked Race on the lips, crossing his fingers as he jogged away.

Race blushed a little and hopped up the steps to find Katherine and Sarah. They were sitting a few rows up giggling with each other, shoulders touching. Each was clutching a steaming cup of hot chocolate, cheeks rosy and necks wrapped with scarves. 

Race chuckled a little, grabbing the camera from beside Katherine.

“Smile girls!” He snapped a couple pictures of them in their school sweatshirts cuddled up together under a blanket, then gave it back to Katherine who quickly looked through the pictures, smiling.

“I got you one Race!” Sarah patted the bench, reaching down to pick up another drink. 

“Wow! Thanks Sar, this is definitely what I need right now.” He graciously accepted the drink, sipping at it carefully. 

The three bantered back and forth for a while before the stands began to grow restless as they announced the names of what seemed like the whole football team. For all Race knew, it was the whole football team, but he had no clue.

His ears perked up when he heard them announce Spot.

“Number 52, senior Sean Conlon.” 

Race whooped and cheered and moments later the team came charging out through the banner.

The crowd erupted, jumping and shouting. Spot paced on the sidelines for a bit, looking up for Race. Finally he spotted him, with his bright white jersey in a mostly blue crowd. Spot waved cheerfully and Race waved back. 

I-L-Y

Race signed, using his basic fingerspelling ASL knowledge. Spot cupped his hands in a heart back and Race laughed. 

The whistle was blown and the game began. Starting off lousy as usual the other team scored first. That didn't last long, the Viks tied it up, then pulled ahead. At the end of the first quarter it was tied, 14-14. 

Race was happy, but still freezing. He put the hood of his sweatshirt on and hugged his knees to his chest. Katherine and Sarah were all over each other, sharing body heat. 

The game only went downhill from there. By halftime they were losing 14-31. The dance team performed and that seemed to boost morale. By the time the players were back on the field everyone was on their feet cheering again. 

Things began to look up when they scored again, but their rivals didn't let themselves fall behind. They scored two more times, putting them up to 38. The crowd's enthusiasm was waning with only half hearted cheers. Most were shivering with the cold and Race could make out Spot on the sideline jumping to keep his body temperature up. 

He caught his boyfriend's gaze and gave him a hopeful thumbs up. Usually Spot was able to pull the team out of these ruts. 

This time seemed to be no different. The next time he was in he was ready. As soon as they started moving he took off, stopping only when he was a ways out. 

Seeing his opportunity the player with the ball threw it. It soared over the heads of the other team, but they didn't pause for a minute. Several took off running after Spot who was moving around, his eye on the ball.

It came closer and closer, everyone anticipating a perfect catch he like usual. Then he missed. The ball hit his hand and fell, Spot reaching out after it, but to no avail. Everyone groaned and Spot threw his head back in disappointment. 

Race bit his lip. He knew Spot was gonna beat himself up about this if they lost. Sarah put a hand on his shoulder reassuringly and he shrugged her off. 

The game went quickly after that. The other team scored again, putting the score at 21-45. The team’s shook hands and most of the boys headed straight into the locker rooms. 

Race hurried down the stairs and grabbed Spot as he sulked towards the doors. 

“Hey, Spot, good game.” 

“Shut up, I totally fucked it all up.” 

“No, you were great. You can't always be perfect.” 

“But I can always be good enough, and I wasn't.” Spot shrugged Race off of him and looked at his shoes.

Race grabbed both of his shoulders and pulled him close.

“You are to me. Don't beat yourself up about this, you've played some really great games this season.”

Spot wrapped his arms around Race’s waist and the two rocked together for a little while. 

“Hey, how about we get some waffle fries?” Race tipped up Spots chin, looking into his dark eyes.

“Yeah.” Spot smiled a little and kissed his boyfriend before going off to change.

When he got out of the locker room Race was waiting for him.

“Are you gonna take the jersey off?” Spot laughed.

“No, I'm still proud of our team! We went undefeated until now!” 

Spot chuckled and slung his arm around Race's shoulder, his bag over the other.


	3. Hoco?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Spot has an important question.

The night of the homecoming game the stands were packed. Practically the whole school had showed up decked out in spiritwear head to toe, facepaint pridefully displayed. 

This time the whole friend group was there, Jack driving. Naturally they were late, but they showed up just in time to catch the end of the national anthem where their side all held up their hands in Viking horns, cheering. It was a tradition that had been going on since long before Race started high school, one that always filled him with a bubbly pride for his school.

He would never admit it, but Race liked the cheesy things like that. He liked his school and showing he was a part of it. Spot thought it was lame, all the things they were told like ‘this school is one big family’ but Race appreciates it. He enjoyed the company of his classmates and embodied the shenanigans that went on, like inflatable dinosaur costumes every Halloween or the buzz leading up to each game. 

The players were already lined up on the sides and Race tried to catch Spots eye. After realizing it was useless, Spot was too far and distracted, Race took a seat. Katherine was down snapping pictures with the cameraman out sick, Sarah by her side. Jack, Crutchie, and Davey were trying to figure out how to share a blanket between the three of them, Albert was slouching, slurping at his cup of noodles, Elmer sat intrigued in the game, jumping up and cheering whenever anything remotely good happened. 

Early on they scored, giving the crowd even more energy. The cheerleaders were jumping around and waving their pompoms, the band trumpeting at full volume. As their fight song came on the group stood up and sang along, improvising on most of the lyrics. 

By now Spot knew exactly where in the stands his friends were. They were never quiet, especially when they weren't trying to be. Their cheers reached him loud and clear and he turned around grinning at them. 

“WHOOOOO GO CONLON!” Jack cupped his hands.

“Our boy!” Albert added. 

Race grinned madly at his boyfriend, burrowing down in the sweatshirt he wore under Spot’s jersey. 

Spot grinned goofily and blew a kiss before turning back to the game. 

“Racer you might wanna look out, I think Spottys inta me!” Albert teased.

“Oh yeah?” 

“Mhmm, didya see that? He blew a kiss at me! Right in front of you. Tsk tsk, shameful.”

Race playfully shoved Albert who in turn shoved him back. The two jostled each other for a couple of seconds before Race jolted up off the bleachers. 

His eyes flew open wide as he took in the scene before him. Down on the field it was chaos. Both teams were crowding around someone as the refs yelled at them to move. Somebody was hurt, that was clear. They called in a medic and Race desperately tried to see who it was. 

He tried to push past people, making his way to the fence. Once there he peered our over the field. One of the players was hobbling off the field with help. He wore a black Vikings jersey and Race’s heart dropped when he saw the number.

52

Race frantically tried to push his way down to the field, but someone stopped him. He was handed off to Sarah, who took him back up to their friends. 

“Racer, what’s wrong?” Jack asked. 

“It’s Spot.” Race got out.

“Oh shit.” Albert muttered.

“He’s gonna be fine Race, you know that. He’s tough.” Crutchie reassured him. 

Race shook his head and sat down. 

It felt like hours before they got to halftime. The cheerleaders got out there and did their thing, then the dance team. And then something else.

Someone- A short someone- A short someone who happened to be Spot Conlon- hobbled our onto the field. His foot was wrapped up and he looked like he was in pain, but he kept going until he was a good distance away, but still visible. 

There he stood, a good 5’ 4” when the tallest guy in the team came walking out with a rolled up sign. He stood at least a foot taller than Spot and held the sign out, letting it unroll. 

In clear, bold writing it read ‘I may be short, but I’d be MIGHTY pleased if you said yes to… HOCO?’

Race grinned wildly as Spot threw up his arms in an attempt to look taller. He nodded enthusiastically and ran down to the field. This time no one stopped him. 

He dashed out onto the turf and threw his arms around Spot, lifting him up. Spot beamed and laughed as he was swung around, momentarily forgetting his injury. 

Race gingerly set him down, careful of his foot. 

“What happened?” He asked worriedly.

“Just sprained Race, I’ll be fine.” Spot assured him.

Race grinned again and hesitated before screaming “YES!” 

“So I take it that’s my answer?” Spot laughed. 

“Yes.” Race whispered this time, “Yes I’ll be your date to homecoming.” 

Then he helped his boyfriend hobble off the field.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AAAH sorry I haven’t written in sooo long! I’ve been insanely busy with school and shows and writing isn’t high on my list of priorities. I can’t promise more Sprace soon, but I may get back to it. I hope you enjoyed!

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this right after going to my schools football game so it's basically the same game but with Newsies.


End file.
